My Simple Solana 34G
- Thread starter plyle02
- Start date
plyle02
Active member
Thanks Kasey!!!
My long weekend with my daughter came to a close yesterday, so off to Tampa. Of course I had to go to an old faithful LFS, I knew they would have some things I was looking for LOL... Picked up a fist size piece of liverock that is 100% encrusted with various zoos. I could not begin to count all the polyps... lol..
Needed to tweak the stucture yet again to accomodate the large addition... I also picked up a trio of funky looking "antenna cardinals" at the store, not a positive id yet, but similair to a red-stripe cardinal... Anyway, these guys are very peaceful, made it through the night with no problem. I will try to snap a few pics later today
My long weekend with my daughter came to a close yesterday, so off to Tampa. Of course I had to go to an old faithful LFS, I knew they would have some things I was looking for LOL... Picked up a fist size piece of liverock that is 100% encrusted with various zoos. I could not begin to count all the polyps... lol..
Needed to tweak the stucture yet again to accomodate the large addition... I also picked up a trio of funky looking "antenna cardinals" at the store, not a positive id yet, but similair to a red-stripe cardinal... Anyway, these guys are very peaceful, made it through the night with no problem. I will try to snap a few pics later today
plyle02
Active member
For Anyone Interested:::::::::
Just tested 2 different salts at 1.025 S.G., using Salifert to test both Ca and Mag. I used Lamotte to test for Alk, using DKH.
The salts tested were Instant Ocean and Coral Life.
Reason to test, as I tested my tank for the basic 3 I was very happy until I tested CA, I was getting 500+...
A bit high for me, I like it around 425 range. So, I thought I need to test the water for water changes, I have been diligent doing at least 5 gal per week. So the results...
Instant Ocean
Ca- 450
Alk- 9.41
Mag- 1360
Coral Life
Ca-525+
Alk- 8.75
Mag- 1460
Again, that is each of these salts mixed to 1.025 S.G. This is the salinity I shoot for in my tank, has always been my set level. I am going to go back to using Instant Ocean. My goal is to be keeping the following levels for basic 3:
Ca- 420 +/-
Alk- Approx 9.0 DKH
Mag- 1400+
Needless to say I am mixing my salt right now, I can always buffer mag, and plan to, but feel I am fringing on disaster with that high of Ca. I will be lowering through w/c's and lack of supplementation until goal is met. Even though the above Ca/Alk are slightly higher, and Mag is slightly lower, I will be testing every other day to determine consumption as to determine dosing schedule. More to come!
Just tested 2 different salts at 1.025 S.G., using Salifert to test both Ca and Mag. I used Lamotte to test for Alk, using DKH.
The salts tested were Instant Ocean and Coral Life.
Reason to test, as I tested my tank for the basic 3 I was very happy until I tested CA, I was getting 500+...
A bit high for me, I like it around 425 range. So, I thought I need to test the water for water changes, I have been diligent doing at least 5 gal per week. So the results...Instant Ocean
Ca- 450
Alk- 9.41
Mag- 1360
Coral Life
Ca-525+
Alk- 8.75
Mag- 1460
Again, that is each of these salts mixed to 1.025 S.G. This is the salinity I shoot for in my tank, has always been my set level. I am going to go back to using Instant Ocean. My goal is to be keeping the following levels for basic 3:
Ca- 420 +/-
Alk- Approx 9.0 DKH
Mag- 1400+
Needless to say I am mixing my salt right now, I can always buffer mag, and plan to, but feel I am fringing on disaster with that high of Ca. I will be lowering through w/c's and lack of supplementation until goal is met. Even though the above Ca/Alk are slightly higher, and Mag is slightly lower, I will be testing every other day to determine consumption as to determine dosing schedule. More to come!
plyle02
Active member
Some news, updates, frustrations, and changes:
I posted a few days back on my salt water findings with salt choices, I came home from work that night to find 6 gallons of ro/di had overflowed my tank due to the float valve sticking while water was in on position... All good tile floors and the area carpet collected most of the water, just hung on fence outside lol... No fish or coral loss, so that leads me to my next change....salt choice
Switched back to Tropic Marin Pro Reef, used for 4 years running previous tanks, a solid salt IMO. I have been busy with making saltwater over the last several days, I have changed out 5 gallons a day for 3 days in a row. I have slowly brought my salinity to desired level by mixing salt at higher than I keep the tank. So tank is now locked in at 1.025 S.G.
I forgot to mention when adding my antenna cardinals, that I had also added a leopard wrasse... The wrasse dissapeared immediately, so when I posted of my new additions, I did not want to mention due to lack of knowledge and understanding of this wrasse. I really did not want to jinx myself...lol
I have also re-scaped, removing around 8lbs of rock, making for alot more swimming room. I love the new look, when thing settle down a bit in the tank and the silt clears, I will post up a FTS... I think everyone will agree it looks more eye appealing
Thanks for looking....
I posted a few days back on my salt water findings with salt choices, I came home from work that night to find 6 gallons of ro/di had overflowed my tank due to the float valve sticking while water was in on position...
All good tile floors and the area carpet collected most of the water, just hung on fence outside lol... No fish or coral loss, so that leads me to my next change....salt choiceSwitched back to Tropic Marin Pro Reef, used for 4 years running previous tanks, a solid salt IMO. I have been busy with making saltwater over the last several days, I have changed out 5 gallons a day for 3 days in a row. I have slowly brought my salinity to desired level by mixing salt at higher than I keep the tank. So tank is now locked in at 1.025 S.G.
I forgot to mention when adding my antenna cardinals, that I had also added a leopard wrasse... The wrasse dissapeared immediately, so when I posted of my new additions, I did not want to mention due to lack of knowledge and understanding of this wrasse. I really did not want to jinx myself...lol
I have also re-scaped, removing around 8lbs of rock, making for alot more swimming room. I love the new look, when thing settle down a bit in the tank and the silt clears, I will post up a FTS... I think everyone will agree it looks more eye appealing
Thanks for looking....
plyle02
Active member
Thanks Kasey,
I will get some more pics of the side, and of all my fish, including those cardinals...lol... Yes, TMPR salts are solid, I know all my fish and corals will thank me later...
Anyway, another closer shot of the reef from front angle.
plyle02
Active member
@ akma- Thank you, I am starting to really dig the nano thing and definitely am enjoying this project... I really like the simplicity of the tank design, I feel a bit limited in the rear compartment, but am figuring out how to make it work
@ Kasey- Thank you too bro, no more VA Beach? I saw Greenville NC, you got to be missing the coast, VA beach and NC beaches are incredible! Anyway, the new structure definitely allows for future growth. My local LFS has been getting me some really nicer large pieces for cheap, and is about to get a new shipment... Here we go...
@ NMC- Thank You! I was beginning to see a "fruitstand" appearance in my future, I am not a big fan of that look, so it was time to pull some rock before the superglue gel permanently sets corals in their respective locations...
@ Kasey- Thank you too bro, no more VA Beach? I saw Greenville NC, you got to be missing the coast, VA beach and NC beaches are incredible! Anyway, the new structure definitely allows for future growth. My local LFS has been getting me some really nicer large pieces for cheap, and is about to get a new shipment... Here we go...
@ NMC- Thank You! I was beginning to see a "fruitstand" appearance in my future, I am not a big fan of that look, so it was time to pull some rock before the superglue gel permanently sets corals in their respective locations...
plyle02
Active member
Update:
Added a strip led 3 whites and 3 blues. The unit was inexpensive but surprisingly bright, and works well to simulate dawn/dusk. Here is a pic...
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Added this Crocea Clam today
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Added this acro, really has potential...
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A happy frogspawn
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Efflo:
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FTS:
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Random just LED strip:
[/IMG]
Added a strip led 3 whites and 3 blues. The unit was inexpensive but surprisingly bright, and works well to simulate dawn/dusk. Here is a pic...
Added this Crocea Clam today
Added this acro, really has potential...
A happy frogspawn
Efflo:
FTS:
Random just LED strip:
kaserpick
Keeping it Simple
Yeah, no more Va. Beach, I'm missing the coast big time! I'm also missing the reef keeping community. Greenville seems like a reef keeping desert. :lmao:
The new additions look great! I think I'm really starting to get a feel for how the tank's going to fill in; it's going to look awesome!
The new additions look great! I think I'm really starting to get a feel for how the tank's going to fill in; it's going to look awesome!
plyle02
Active member
Kasey,
VA Beach is sooo nice, the outer banks of N.C. are absolutely amazing, so you atleast have that, not sure how far from Greenville, I lived in N.C. back in the 90's near Raleigh, still beautiful within itself, just different from coastal life Planning a trip up coast of N.C. in the fall, going to be a camping surfing deal... Anyway, I am sure you will get some local reef buddies eventually, does make it nice during tank stocking time, frag swaps always a better option.
Anyway,
The my tank is starting to show really nice signs of settling in, I think sinced I switched to TRPR salts, everything started showing signs of hapiness. Crazy thing is that I never had an algae bloom during cycling, no signs of any pest algaes, just staying on top of water changes, skimming, and PO4 remover in rx, that is it... I still add 5 drops of BW's bacteria during water changes, and 2 drops every 3 days or so. I add about 5 drops a day of the Reef Fuel. Based on the recommendations on the label, and having used these products before, I am well under as far as my dosing is concerned. This is more of a method to keep levels low while all animals are settling in and not causing any nutrient spike, which usually spawns other declining events. My plan is to continue until I see more coraline algae and for my rock to go from a bright green to all purple. I know this will happen soon, and then I will likely back off and just focus on simple. I do feel strongly though, that these small additions have allowed for me to stock this tank rather quickly due to nutrients staying down and larger than normal water changes. I have only had issues with a fish dying from jumping, and a coral(wild) that just did not make it. Other than that, corals have signs of coloration improvement and show crazy PE... Anyway, I guess that is it for now...
VA Beach is sooo nice, the outer banks of N.C. are absolutely amazing, so you atleast have that, not sure how far from Greenville, I lived in N.C. back in the 90's near Raleigh, still beautiful within itself, just different from coastal life
Planning a trip up coast of N.C. in the fall, going to be a camping surfing deal... Anyway, I am sure you will get some local reef buddies eventually, does make it nice during tank stocking time, frag swaps always a better option.Anyway,
The my tank is starting to show really nice signs of settling in, I think sinced I switched to TRPR salts, everything started showing signs of hapiness. Crazy thing is that I never had an algae bloom during cycling, no signs of any pest algaes, just staying on top of water changes, skimming, and PO4 remover in rx, that is it... I still add 5 drops of BW's bacteria during water changes, and 2 drops every 3 days or so. I add about 5 drops a day of the Reef Fuel. Based on the recommendations on the label, and having used these products before, I am well under as far as my dosing is concerned. This is more of a method to keep levels low while all animals are settling in and not causing any nutrient spike, which usually spawns other declining events. My plan is to continue until I see more coraline algae and for my rock to go from a bright green to all purple. I know this will happen soon, and then I will likely back off and just focus on simple. I do feel strongly though, that these small additions have allowed for me to stock this tank rather quickly due to nutrients staying down and larger than normal water changes. I have only had issues with a fish dying from jumping, and a coral(wild) that just did not make it. Other than that, corals have signs of coloration improvement and show crazy PE... Anyway, I guess that is it for now...
plyle02
Active member
Thought I would put a FTS update out there as my reef progresses... I had another coral loss, a shame, I fragged it in 1/2 and planned on selling back to the LFS, but something triggered a rtn event on this particular coral, nothing else, both pieces in seperate locations, weird, would have thought this to occur when I cut it...lol... Owell, all others look great. I have placed my korillia nano in the back of the filtration chamber as detritus is building up, this is to stir up the back chambers keeping detritus from settling so much. 2-3 times per day I ramp the mp10 to 100% and get the tank all stirred up, then place in nutrient export mode to move nutrients to the overflow, this seems to keep my skimmer pulling gunk and the sandbed stays white. Otherwise, I have found a good wave on the "short pulse" setting ramping to 70% this make a nice wave that all corals are enjoying. Well, I guest that is enough for now, thanks for looking...
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plyle02
Active member
Thanks Cali!
Too many options with the mp10 to not take advantage
Noticed mag finally taking a dip, so I just got a bottle of aquavitro ions magnesium. I am trying to dial into NSW values, I am not a big fan of any parameter being accelerated too far beyond these values.
My current big 3:
Alk-9.4 dkh
CA-440ppm
Mag- 1380ppm
Desired big 3:
Alk-7.8 dkh
CA-410ppm
Mag-1450ppm
All in all, not too far off my desired levels, just need to drop a bit on alk and ca, and boost mag a bit. I have found my current dosing schedule with A&B, dosing Seachems Reef Fusion 1&2 at 3.5ml per day. I was dosing 7ml alk and 5ml of ca only to realize that I was gradually climbing instead of maintaining, especially alk. With SPS, have to be careful of that and test more often. Will update as updates are warranted...
Too many options with the mp10 to not take advantage
Noticed mag finally taking a dip, so I just got a bottle of aquavitro ions magnesium. I am trying to dial into NSW values, I am not a big fan of any parameter being accelerated too far beyond these values.
My current big 3:
Alk-9.4 dkh
CA-440ppm
Mag- 1380ppm
Desired big 3:
Alk-7.8 dkh
CA-410ppm
Mag-1450ppm
All in all, not too far off my desired levels, just need to drop a bit on alk and ca, and boost mag a bit. I have found my current dosing schedule with A&B, dosing Seachems Reef Fusion 1&2 at 3.5ml per day. I was dosing 7ml alk and 5ml of ca only to realize that I was gradually climbing instead of maintaining, especially alk. With SPS, have to be careful of that and test more often. Will update as updates are warranted...
Ricardo Coelho
New member
Perry,
Vortech pump works very well and the sps corais love the movent...
Vortech pump works very well and the sps corais love the movent...
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